Seth Mastiphal
Seth Mastiphal is a major character in the Chronicles of the First Flame, featuring as one of three POV characters in the first trilogy, and later as the overarching antagonist, especially in the third trilogy. Flame Seeker Seth studies at the mage academy of Tor-Sul, where Alizan Droh took him as a boy when his parents were killed by a ravaging beast, and he is determined to somehow avenge their deaths by "saving" the world somehow. During his time here he receives personal education under archmage Samael Bailyss, who is rumoured to be the most powerful magician to live upon the planet. When his tutelage is sufficient, he is sent to the Red Temple to prepare to inherit the mantle of Steval the Blademaster. Oath Breaker When his training under Steval is complete, the old master bestows upon him the Aeon of Flame, an artefact of tremendous power that resides within the soul, and sends him to the seat of Emperor Jhosh, ruler over the Dark Continent, to observe the health of the greatest human civilisation. When the treachery and tyranny of the Emperor is known to him, Seth climbs the Black Spire and communes with the demons residing there to find the answer to his questions concerning the nature of evil. The moon infects his soul and reveals the truth of his parents' demise, turning him from the magi. He begins to make his way down the mountain and across Sandoria to its easternmost cliffs, to travel to the unmapped lands of Charnoth as Oblivion bids him. Ember tries to talk sense to him but in his delirium he slays her, cementing his turn from the light. When he reaches the cliff, he is borne aloft by the talons of a black dragon to the dark jungles of Vaishun. Shadow King Having become a full-fledged warlock under the tutelage of Mikhalinn's black cult, within the subterranean chambers of the It'Ept Seth unravels terrible secrets that warp his mind with demon-taint. His magics turned to the Dark, he is compelled to betray and assassinate his master, and assume the mantle of Shadow King for himself. Inviting hordes of demons into the It'Ept city and offering the entire people as a sacrifice to Oblivion, he sets in motion the Shadow Scourge. As his servants make war on all continents, he sets about obtaining the other eight primordial Aeons by hunting down and sequentially slaying all members of the Ennead Order except for Steval, to claim the relics they hold within their own souls. Once he has completed this dark task, he subtly enters Sam's Palace in the body of the king in order to steal the Beacon of Belenos from beneath the catacombs. With the Beacon in his possession, he makes his way to the Naenese Tomb of Saints, becoming banished by the Ritual of One Thousand Tongues moments before gaining passage to the sacred chambers - the Seal would not open for him because the Flame Aeon had split, half of it entering Ember's soul when he embraced her body in his last moments of sanity.